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Seth washed and dried his hands, his lazy grin a greeting, before he sidled up to them, eyeing the grocery sack on the nearby island. “What’s all this?”
Reluctantly, Beck pulled away from Heavenly. “Just a few things to help celebrate some news I have.”
“What?” Cooper prompted. “Let’s hear it.”
Here goes nothing… “I signed up to attend a medical conference.”
“Where? Someplace awesome, like Hawaii?” Heavenly looked beyond excited by that possibility.
Beck winced. With everything happening these days, he and Seth had been shirking the vow they’d made to her dying father to show Heavenly the world. The PI’s grimace said he realized it, too.
“No. But if you’d like to go sometime, we’ll plan a vacation.”
“Really?” Her big eyes lit with thrill. “I would love that.”
“Then we’ll make it happen,” Seth promised.
“Definitely,” Beck seconded. “But the conference I registered to attend—and subsequently got wrangled into speaking at—is in New York.”
“My old stomping grounds.” Seth chuckled. “When?”
Now for the tricky part… “October second through fourth.”
Cooper arched his brows. “The same week Mom and Carl are getting married. Is that a coincidence?”
Beck didn’t pretend innocence. “No.”
The PI might reject his plan, but after he’d invited Heavenly to the wedding to meet the family, Beck had pictured her making inroads with the in-laws-to-be since there was no way Grace Cooper and Seth’s brothers wouldn’t love her. Then he’d visualized himself rattling around the house alone while the pair played in New York. And he’d hated that. So he’d begun to plot. If he was close by, maybe Seth would find some pretense to invite him, too?
Normally, Beck wouldn’t push himself on anyone, but this was their future. He didn’t want to be left out.
“I see.” Seth’s pause was lengthy and inscrutable. “Did it take you long to find a conference in the city that same week?”
“To find one that had anything to do with vascular surgery took more than a few minutes,” Beck admitted, wishing he could get a read on Seth’s reaction. “Look, I figured we could fly out together. I booked a room at the conference hotel, which shouldn’t be more than a taxi ride from your mom’s place.”
Seth frowned. “So you’re planning to crash the wedding?”
“No,” Beck assured. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m not a raging asshole.”
Seth heaved out a sigh. “I know. It’s just, I thought—”
“That I intended to show up and force our relationship down your family’s throat? I understand the reasons you’d rather wait to tell your mother about us, and I get it.”
Heavenly stroked a hand down Seth’s arm and sent him a placid smile. “Everyone—your aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins—will be at the wedding, right?”
Cooper nodded, looking guarded. “Yeah.”
“I’m guessing that means a lot of people will be staying at your mom’s house?”
“Yeah.” He frowned suspiciously.
“Since your mom is traditional and we’re not married, I doubt she’ll be okay with us sharing a bedroom. I’d rather not spend my nights without you, and it seems silly for each of us to take a bedroom while someone else, probably one of your brothers, will be relegated to a sofa.”
Beck bit back a smile. He knew where Heavenly was leading the conversation…which was exactly where he’d hoped to take it.
Seth snorted. “After I walked in on her and Carl fucking on our kitchen table, she can’t object too loudly.”
“You caught them having sex?” Heavenly gasped.
